Berserkers!

[TimP]

Hello,

Here is my attempt to create Berserkers for Christopher's Ancient Ice (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=936)campaign.

My real world source material is from here (http://www.florilegium.org/files/NORSE/Berserkergang-art.html).

Any comments and/or criticism are welcome, especially in regards to reducing the sheer bloat of this thing. :D

Thanks,

Tim
_______________________________________

These lifepaths fall within the Outcast sub-setting.

Name: Baresark
Time: 5 years
Resources: 10
Stat: +1P
Leads: Hirdmenn, Thrall, Karl

Skills: 6pts; Berserkergang, Drinking, Intimidation, Mysteries of Odin*, Looting*, Sword, Axe, Shield Training, Brawling
Traits: 2pts; Hint of Madness, Fearless, It's Better to Burn Out than to Fade Away

Baresark requires one previous lifepath as a warrior.

Hint of Madness
Berserkers are more than a bit crazy. Character trait.

It's Better to Burn Out than to Fade Away
Does this need explanation? Character Trait.


__________________________________________________ _

Name: Skin-changer
Time: 4 years
Resources: 5
Stat: +1P
Leads: Hirdmenn, Thrall, Karl

Skills: 4pts; Wolf or Bear-wise, Hunting, Berserkergang, Drinking, Intimidation, Brawling

Traits: 2pts; Eyes of Yellow, Like a Beast; Hungry Like the Wolf; Heart of the Beast

Skin-changer requires Baresark.

Eyes of Yellow, Like a Beast
The eyes are the window to the soul. Character Trait.

Hungry Like the Wolf
Skin-changers have a voracious appetite for red meat, even when in human form. Character Trait.

Required Equipment: Ignari, Wolf or Bear Skin

_____________________________________________


Berserkergang
Those initiated into the ways of the Berserk may learn this skill. It takes a number of volleys of biting your shield, gnashing your teeth, yelling, and generally working yourself into a state of madness equal to the Ob achieved on a Berserkergang test to willingly enter Berserk state. A Berserker may be forced to go Berserk if he takes wounds in combat that cause him to make a Steel check. If the Steel check results in hesitation the Berserker must make a Berserkergang test.

Berserks eschew armor, only wearing wolf or bear skins, which are leather equivalent and cover the head and torso (if you are lenient). Berserks fight nude, baby!

Berserks attack the nearest being indiscriminately once combat has been initiated. A Will test meeting or exceeding the Ob achieved upon entering Berserk state must be passed to ignore a potential target, friend, enemy, horse, or groundhog. Effects of the Berserkergang test are inclusive and cumulative.

Free with Skill: Son of Odin. May only fight in aggressive stance.
Ob2: Numb. Ignore obstacle penalty from Superficial wounds.
Ob3: Face of Madness. Enemies facing the wrath of a Berserk must make a Steel check upon first contact.
Ob4: Feel no pain. Ignore Steel tests for losing a die to wounds while berserk.
Ob5: Seeing Red. Ignore obstacle penalty from Midi wounds.
Ob6: Strength of the Beast. Power is shifted by +2 dice for the duration.
Ob7: Fury guides my arm. May ignore obstacle penalty from Traumatic wounds.
Ob8: Fylgja. Achieves a spirit form of pure rage. May not be harmed by normal weapons.


It requires a Will test equal to the Successes achieved upon entering Berserk state to return to a normal state of being. Unconsciousness will also take a character out of Berserk state. Upon return to normal the Berserk immediately feels the effects of all wounds as well as a severe though temporary weakness from expending the energy required to go Berserk. This weakness reduces all stats, attributes, and skills by the Ob achieved when entering Berserk state. The recovery time is 24 hours, reduced by 10% per additional success achieved on the Will test for return to normalcy.

______________________________________________

Heart of the Beast: Lifepath Trait
When the Olgari peoples arrived in Iselheim the first of the strange peoples they found in this new land were the Kree. The Rootmen of the Kree taught the great Berserk, Agnar Gudmundson, the rituals of the Heart of the Beast. From Agnar and his scions, this closely guarded secret has passed down through the generations and slowly spread among the Berserker cults.

A Heart of the Beast initiate must slay a wolf or bear with an Ignari, a sharp curved dagger ensorcelled by a Kreeish Rootman. The Ignari is a powerful heirloom, looked upon as both curse and boon. The initiate must choose one type of beast, and may never take another. He then eats the beast’s still beating heart and wears its skin, thereby consuming its soul. Thereafter, the character with Heart of the Beast may shape change at will, taking the form of the beast that he has devoured.
The character must have the skin of the beast he has slain to assume its form and gain the advantages of its soul. One with Heart of the Beast will go to any lengths to recover the skin if it is stolen.

For the rest of his life, a character with Heart of the Beast struggles with the animal soul he has consumed. He will slowly lose his humanity, finding it ever more difficult to return to human form. His mortal soul is in danger, and most initiates either die in battle or eventually surrender to the beast within. These fearsome once-human creatures lurk in dark woods on the edges of civilization, finding their selves strangely drawn to human villages. They are the stuff of nightmare: man-eaters and boogeymen. A Berserk with Heart of the Beast who has lost his soul is removed from player control, to become a plague upon his people.

Taking wolf or bear form applies the following ‘template’ to the human form’s stats, derived from wolf normal vs. human normal and bear normal vs. human normal:

Heart of the Bear:
Wi: +0d
Pe: +1d
Ag: +0d
Sp: +1d
Po: +4d
Fo: +3d

Health, Reflexes, Movement Rates, and Mortal Wound are re-figured for the animal form. Steel is unchanged from human form. Skills known as a human may be used as ForKs to animal skills, when appropriate. The gift of speech is lost when in animal form.


Traits: Massive Stature, Tough, Omnivore, Sweet-tooth, Clawed, Keen Smell, Fanged, Loner

Skills: Savage Maul B7, Intimidation B6, Hunting B4, Foraging B6


Heart of the Wolf:
Wi: -1d
Pe: +1d
Ag: +2d
Sp: +1d
Po: +0d
Fo: +0d

Health, Reflexes, Movement Rates, and Mortal Wound are re-figured for the animal form. Steel is unchanged from human form. Skills known as a human may be used as ForKs to animal skills, when appropriate. The gift of speech is lost when in animal form.

Traits: Crushing Jaws, Deep Fur, Lupine Form, Long-Legged, Wolf’s Eyes, Wolf’s Snout, Woodland Ear

Skills: Brawling B5, Stealthy B5, Tracking B5, Howling B3, Begging B3, Hunting B4, Scavenging B4.

Special: Locking Bite, Charging on Four Legs

Assuming the Form
The character must be wearing the skin of the animal whose soul he consumed. It is an Ob3 Will test to take the animal form.

As per Berserkergang, if the character takes wounds in combat that result in a Steel check and the Steel check results in hesitation the character is overtaken by madness and must immediately take animal form: no Will test required. In addition, the character goes Berserk with all that entails. Time to complete the shapechange is 1 exchange + the time required to go Berserk.

The character reverts to human form if wounds taken while in animal form or if the exhaustion of coming out of Berserk state results in unconsciousness. This does not apply if the character has Lost His Soul.

To return from beast state to human state otherwise requires a Will test with the obstacle equal to the character’s current Loss of Humanity attribute.

Loss of Humanity

Loss of Humanity is an attribute, much like Elven Grief and advances in the same way.
A character with the Heart of the Beast trait starts with Loss of Humanity equal to the number of years spent in the Beastman lifepath.

Obstacle 1 Loss of Humanity
Staying in animal form for more than 1 day

Obstacle 2 Loss of Humanity
Engaging in combat while in animal form

Obstacle 3 Loss of Humanity
Eating another beast while in animal form

Obstacle 4 Loss of Humanity
Killing a human while in animal form

Obstacle 5 Loss of Humanity
Going Berserk while in animal form, Killing an innocent, Mating with an animal

Obstacle 6 Loss of Humanity
Killing a Human while Berserk and in animal form

Obstacle 7 Loss of Humanity
Killing your Liege, Fathering a litter of pups/cubs

Obstacle 8 Loss of Humanity
Eating a Human

Obstacle 9 Loss of Humanity
Killing of Kin

Obstacle 10 Loss of Humanity
Eating of Kin

A character whose Loss of Humanity exceeds an exponent of 10 has lost his soul to the beast within and spends the rest of his days as an insane beast. The character is removed from player control.

Mitigating Loss of Humanity
Skills (mostly social in nature) that reaffirm the character’s humanity may help to mitigate the effects of Loss of Humanity. Examples include, but are not necessarily limited to: Drinking, Dancing, Etiquette, Law, Painting, Poetry, Pottery, Rhetoric, and Singing. These types of skills work in the same way as Laments. Use them in a logical manner.

Some major life events may also help even to the extent of dropping the Loss of Humanity attribute by a full point: Fathering a legitimate child. Marrying. Being taken into service by a Lord, Entering the priesthood are some examples.

If the character, by some chance, is able to reduce his Loss of Humanity attribute to zero The Heart of the Beast is lost forever.

edit 2/14/2005: Changed Beastman to Skin-changer. Added Hungry Like the Wolf and It's Better to Burn Out than to Fade Away traits. Added Mating with another animal and Fathering a Litter of Pups/Cubs to LoH Obs.
edit 2/23/2005 changed special berserkergang effects and obs

[luke]

Tim,

I'm too swamped to give a detailed analysis, so off the top of my head:
First, this is great stuff!

Second, the obstacles for Berserkergang are too low and too stark. Powers should grade smoothly from Ob 1 to Ob 10. Starting with a bonus die or two, a call-on, ignoring superficial wounds, etc on up to the Spirit Rage (which has got to be Ob 10, my friend.)

rock on!
-L

[TimP]

Cool, glad you like it.

I see what you're saying about making the Berserkergang abilities more granular. I'll work on that.

I can't imagine any Berserk managing to live long enough to build up the skill to reach Ob10, but perhaps that's the way it should be. Maybe one Berserk in a generation manages to reach that particular level of insanity, and they become legends: characters in sagas and such. What do you think about making it an open-ended test?

Can you think of a better way to implement the shapechanging? (Don't think about it too much, we need the revision!).

The way it is now, the player whose Berserk has Heart of the Beast will have to keep two character sheets, which I don't particularly like. I didn't want every berserker to have the same stats in animal form, though. That would be boring.

Tim

[luke]

I can't imagine any Berserk managing to live long enough to build up the skill to reach Ob10, but perhaps that's the way it should be.

That's what artha is for.

;)
-L

[Kublai]

Sooo cool!

I agree the special moves for Berserkergang should be stretched out over 10 Obstacles instead of 6 with Spirit Rage being an 8 (10 is simply too high and makes it impossible to attain). You don't have to make moves for each Obstacle, just shift the ones you have now:

Free with Skill: Son of Odin. May only fight in aggressive stance.
Ob3: Numb. Ignore obstacle penalty from Superficial wounds.
Ob4: Face of Madness. Enemies facing the wrath of a Berserk must make a Steel check upon first contact.
Ob5: Feel no pain. Ignore steel tests for losing a die to wounds while berserk.
Ob6: Strength of the Beast. Power is shifted by +2 dice for the duration.
Ob7: Fury guides my arm. May ignore the physical effects of wounds less than mortal while berserk.
Ob8: Fylgja. Achieves a spirit form of pure rage. May not be harmed by normal weapons.

[Kublai]

The Loss of Humanity is cool, too, but needs a better name! ;)

How about as another LoH test is mating with an animal?

[TimP]

The Loss of Humanity is cool, too, but needs a better name!

You can't just say that, you have to come up with a suggestion!
I agree though. The Beastman lifepath needs another name as well.


How about as another LoH test is mating with an animal?

Great idea, but we have laws against that sort of thing in Arkansas!



Tim

[csjames75]

Maybe something like "Feral Spirit" for the animal progression thing. I'd also say you get a gold star if you can work in Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" as a lifepath trait. So what do I know?

Awesome work Tim! I knew the peer feedback would be great. I think we're going to try to playtest the berserker against a knight this Friday in an arena-style combat at our weekly BW game (which Tim masterfully runs, "Caewin Abbey").

Next up, will be runecasters.

Christopher

[Thor]

Dwarven Outcast Setting.
Rune Caster(1) 20 yrs 6 +1 M, P Any except Host
Skills: 5 pts: Rune Casting§, Foraging, Scavenging
Traits: 2 pts: Slave to Fate


8)

[Kublai]

For the Beastman LP, how about calling it "Manimal?" :lol: :oops:

[Thor]

For the Beastman LP, how about calling it "Manimal?" :lol: :oops:

Or you could go traditional and call them skin-changers.

[TimP]

For the Beastman LP, how about calling it "Manimal?"

Not Helpful, Kublai :lol:

Tim

[TimP]

Or you could go traditional and call them skin-changers.

Doh! talk about missing the obvious!

That will work, thanks Thor.

Tim

[eruditus]

Wow that s alot of info. So far though its great content! i love the concepts. Powerful and ugly while still being subtle and spiritual (as subtle as frothing mad men can be, I suppose).

More later

[Kublai]

Alternate suggestions for Loss of Humanity: Bestial or Feral - though I am having a hard time finding the appropriate form of these words!

Bestiality is just wrong! Is ferality a word? :?

[Viper]

My love for you is ticking clock.

[jc_madden]

"Did he just say making F___?"

Heh heh, I don't have a problem with the powers the way they were for the simple reason that yes, they probably wont live long enough to get them. Though depending on your game (if you're generous with Artha) maybe. In that case I agree with Kublai's assesment. I read this post last night and I was like "WOW" but I was too tired to post. All of this norse stuff seems perfect for BW, I originally created a setting for Gary Gygax's Lejendary Adventure based on Norse mythology but I think it would adapt nicely (Gary's newest system is equally deadly). I'll post something on it later perhaps. Afficianado's of norse mythology would like the setting's main location of the town located between two fjords called "Kvasicstan".

[csjames75]

Woah, was that Cousin Olaf from Russia ... gotta love Clerks

I'd love to read about your campaign, jc. I've been scouring the internet for all the Norse stuff I could find to breathe life into this campaign. I'd dig comparing notes.

Christopher

[TimP]

Made some changes to the Berserkers. See edit list at the bottom of the original post for clarity.

I'm coming around to our Fearless Leader's viewpoint on the Berserkergang abilities. I like the idea that you're going to have to spend Deed Artha to get the Immune to Normal Weapons ability. That fits and makes these crazy bastards even MORE heroic.

Tim

[Drozdal]

A Berserk with Heart of the Beast who has lost his soul is removed from player control, to become a plague upon his people.


Maybe You should go one step further, and make all those who lost their soul to their heart beast were-creatures? And now they pass shape-change to those who were bitten by them (or whatever), but not as a controllable "ability", but rather as (as you said) "plague" (you can not control shape-change in any way - full moon (or any other condition set by GM) - you shape change kinda deal).

[eruditus]

A Berserk with Heart of the Beast who has lost his soul is removed from player control, to become a plague upon his people.


Maybe You should go one step further, and make all those who lost their soul to their heart beast were-creatures? And now they pass shape-change to those who were bitten by them (or whatever), but not as a controllable "ability", but rather as (as you said) "plague" (you can not control shape-change in any way - full moon (or any other condition set by GM) - you shape change kinda deal).

Nice were-mythos. Gosh, talk about making were-beast scary if they get all these abilities then go wild.

I have been thinking about weres recently (due to the area i am in the World of Warcraft) and this would make a fun explaination of them for many fantasy campaigns. not everyone could become on, but there is a path.

Of course, I particularly like this as I rebel against the WW frame of mind that says its cool t be these critters. What am I talking about, loving a game that promotes you playing giant spiders!? Something is wrong with me. :cry:

[TimP]

Maybe You should go one step further, and make all those who lost their soul to their heart beast were-creatures? And now they pass shape-change to those who were bitten by them (or whatever), but not as a controllable "ability", but rather as (as you said) "plague" (you can not control shape-change in any way - full moon (or any other condition set by GM) - you shape change kinda deal).


Nice were-mythos. Gosh, talk about making were-beast scary if they get all these abilities then go wild.

This is outside of the scope of what I was trying to do, and doesn't really fit with the feel we're going for with the Ancient Ice campaign. For one thing, once the Berserk has lost all of his humanity, he can't change back to human anymore.

That said, it would make a cool basis for a were-creature myth. Berserkergang is a skill, as written, so you'd have to do some wrangling with the 'rules' to make it into some sort of communicable disease.

Alternatively, you could say that Heart of the Beast is the only thing that can be transmitted. Then you'd have the big bad Ex-berserker animal with (controlling?) a bunch of lesser werewolves or werebears.

I'm glad everyone seems to dig the Berserkers!


Tim

edited for vague grammar and general incoherence.

[well-dressed gentleman]

I like it.

You should make some ulfsarks to go with them.
And crones with eyepatches.

You should get these guys rowing training and maybe
rigging and knots, if they don't have it in their prereq
lifepaths. Sea-wise wouldn't hurt either.

And brawl. Definitely brawl.

Are beserkers really outcast? They were part of viking warbands.
Maybe they belong in some kind of warrior setting.

Also, $10 sounds like too many rp for humans of this sort.
I never thought of vikings as rich.

[eruditus]

Also, $10 sounds like too many rp for humans of this sort.
I never thought of vikings as rich.

Plunder, plunder, plunder

[TimP]

You should make some ulfsarks to go with them

They're already in there, in a general sort of way. I was trying to keep the number of sarks to a minimum to save confusion. :wink:


You should get these guys rowing training and maybe
rigging and knots, if they don't have it in their prereq
lifepaths. Sea-wise wouldn't hurt either.

Did all berserks go viking? I don't know. Maybe this is something they'd have to make a choice to pick up.

In Christopher's campaign, the Norse-analogue peoples have pretty much quit sailing. You'd have to ask him why: I think it has something to do with the extremely treacherous waters and storms of the new land they find themselves in.


And brawl. Definitely brawl.

whoops! added this in.


Are beserkers really outcast? They were part of viking warbands.
Maybe they belong in some kind of warrior setting.

I'm not sure. The materials I read certainly mentioned them being parts of warbands, even serving Kings with distinction. On the other hand, they were known to be kin-killers, duelers, and general crazy men who weren't to be trusted.

I think I'll keep them as outcasts, as there's nothing to keep them from moving out of that social stigma once play starts and there are leads back to the sort of thing you're talking about if you take a berserker lifepath mid-stream.


Also, $10 sounds like too many rp for humans of this sort.
I never thought of vikings as rich.

What eruditus said, plus they're going to need it to acquire a ritual knife and animal skin.

Tim

[csjames75]

Tim, I really dig the way the Zerks are taking shape. If I haven't told you enough before, thanks Man. Also, some great comments about them and what is needed and what is not.

Today, Tim and I are going to playtest the Zerk versus Sir Edwin the Champignon. I think Zerks should be able to take on a knight in raw combat so we'll see who prevails.

As to why this group of Norse - the Olgari is the name they call themselves by, in honor of the first Jarl to take command once they shipwrecked in the new land, dubbed Iselheim - don't do the whole rugged at sea thing. Well, they spent the first few decades just trying to establish themselves in the new land. They do a lot of river travel though back and forth between the Five Towns along the Volochev River.

Seafaring though is an art they've lost a bit and while every generation or so, a new ship sets sail into the vast ocean, they have never been seen again. So, the leadership is really hesitant to invest many resources in setting sail. Especially, since raiding was the big catalyst for sailing and so far the only race they've had much contact with is the hunter-gather mystics, the Kree. Also, contrary to popular belief, the Vikings were not huge open water sailers, more coastline skimmers from the research I've done.

Anyway, much more than anyone wanted to know but I figured I'd give some clues about what the context Tim is developing in. It's really campaign specific as you can tell, though I think it could be adapted pretty easily for a historic campaign.

Christopher

[csjames75]

Well for the record, the Berserker was able to nicely beat down a knight in plate like five times out of eight. Of course, that's probably because I was running the night and my scripting skills are still sadly lacking. The critical factor seems to be both shield training (dividing up those blocking dice) and the number of successes the player gets when the character first goes beserk.

Seems highly workable.

[TimP]

The berserk I had burned up had four actions per exchange to the knight's three, so I think that might have been key. That and Pushing the knight down and Great Striking him with an axe while he was getting up :twisted:

Tim